Team

Leadership Team

Founded in 2011 by ex-Pfizer R&D executives and healthcare investors, Thetis is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel small molecule drugs to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) based on a unique paradigm of resolving inflammation.

Mr. Mathias has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry as an entrepreneur, investor and banker. For 15 years prior to joining Thetis full-time as CEO, Mathias Read More...

Gary MathiasCo-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Mathias has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry as an entrepreneur, investor and banker. For 15 years prior to joining Thetis full-time as CEO, Mathias was a senior partner at Carter Morse & Mathias, a boutique investment banking firm based in Southport, Connecticut. He previously was a senior vice president in the Healthcare Group at GE Equity Capital, Chief Operating Officer of Diabetes Support Systems, and executive vice president of Premier Healthcare, an healthcare focused private equity firm. Mr. Mathias has an MBA from the Yale School of Management, a BA in Economics from Harvard College, and was a Fulbright Fellow in economic development.

Dr. Sciavolino has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry including a distinguished 35 year career at Pfizer Global R&D where he held various management roles and responsibilities in R&D operations Read More...

Dr. Sciavolino has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry including a distinguished 35 year career at Pfizer Global R&D where he held various management roles and responsibilities in R&D operations including drug discovery, development, registration and licensing. Dr. Sciavolino served as Director of R&D operations at Pfizer, where he led the discovery of Zithromax and played a major role in the COX-2 technology and Celebrex development and registration. He also had a leadership role in setting up Pfizer’s R&D operations in Japan. Dr. Sciavolino has served on numerous editorial boards including Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the Journal of Antibiotics. Dr. Sciavolino has more than 30 issued patents and has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Michigan and B.S. in Pharmacy from St. John’s University.

Dr. Hanley is a biomedical scientist with a background in molecular genetics, genomics, and cancer biology. His doctorate was completed under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel W. Rosenberg at UConn Read More...

Matthew Hanley, PhDScientific Director

Dr. Hanley is a biomedical scientist with a background in molecular genetics, genomics, and cancer biology. His doctorate was completed under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel W. Rosenberg at UConn Health, where his research focused on the etiology and prevention of colorectal cancer. His primary work explored the role of folate and other methyl donor nutrients in colonic neoplasia, and examined the effects of dietary methyl donor restriction on tumorigenesis in the ApcΔ14/+ mouse model of familial adenomatous polyposis. In addition, he led projects characterizing DNA methylation defects in human aberrant crypt foci, the earliest precursors to colorectal cancer, and utilized metabolomic profiling to identify novel targets for CRC prevention and treatment. Prior to his PhD, he received a BS in Biology from Union College.

Aaron joined Thetis from the life science strategy consulting practice at Monitor Deloitte (former Monitor Group). While at Deloitte, he worked with Fortune 500 pharmaceutical and personal care companies across Read More...

Aaron MathiasDirector, Business Development

Aaron joined Thetis from the life science strategy consulting practice at Monitor Deloitte (former Monitor Group). While at Deloitte, he worked with Fortune 500 pharmaceutical and personal care companies across a broad range of issues, including customer strategy, analytics, and pricing, M&A, and corporate finance. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Amherst College with a BA in Economics and Political Science.

Dr. Van Zandt is an accomplished synthetic organic and medicinal chemist with more than 20 years of experience in large and small pharmaceutical company environments. Before founding New England Discovery Read More...

Michael Van Zandt, PhDDirector, Discovery Chemistry

Dr. Van Zandt is an accomplished synthetic organic and medicinal chemist with more than 20 years of experience in large and small pharmaceutical company environments. Before founding New England Discovery Partners through which he supports Thetis, Michael was a department head for The Institute for Pharmaceutical Discovery (IPD), where he co-led the aldose reductase project team which ultimately resulted in the identification and clinical development of lidorestat for treatment of diabetic complications (Phase II). Before joining IPD, Michael was a medicinal chemist at the pharmaceutical division of Bayer, where he played a prominent role in the discovery of tanomastat, a first-in-class MMP inhibitor for treatment of osteoarthritis and cancer that progressed through Phase III clinical development. Michael is an inventor on more than 30 issued patents and author on more than 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He is a frequent reviewer for the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and Bioorganic Medicinal Chemistry Letters. Michael received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry with a minor in Biochemistry while working with Professor Carl R. Johnson at Wayne State University.

Dr. Christopher Cimarusti brings strong leadership experience in pharmaceutical discovery, development and manufacturing gained over a 37 year career at Squibb Corporation and Bristol-Myers Squibb. As a discovery chemist, Dr. Read More...

Chris Cimarusti, PhDTechnical Consultant, API

Dr. Christopher Cimarusti brings strong leadership experience in pharmaceutical discovery, development and manufacturing gained over a 37 year career at Squibb Corporation and Bristol-Myers Squibb. As a discovery chemist, Dr. Cimarusti synthesized the anti-hypertensive nadolol and the antibiotic aztreonam for the first time and designed their commercial processes. As a discovery leader, he co-led the antibiotic effort with Richard Sykes and became Director of Organic Chemistry for the Squibb Institute for Medical Research. Subsequently, he was responsible for all biological and chemical process development within Squibb Corporation, including technology transfer directly to manufacturing, monitoring ongoing production and optimization of existing processes. After the merger with Bristol-Myers, he became Vice President of Process R&D within the Pharmaceutical Research Institute. He was appointed Senior Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development and led a global staff of 1,200 engaged in the CMC disciplines for small and large molecules. He also had responsibility for global Clinical Supply Operations, Project Management and Portfolio Management.

Dr. Lipper has 30+ years of experience in research and development in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to his present consulting work, Dr. Lipper held international line-management responsibility for Pharmaceutics R&D Read More...

Robert Lipper, PhDTechnical Consultant, Formulation

Dr. Lipper has 30+ years of experience in research and development in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to his present consulting work, Dr. Lipper held international line-management responsibility for Pharmaceutics R&D with Bristol Myers Squibb over a 24 year career. His experience spans the entire R&D pipeline, from compound selection through technology transfer and marketed product support. Dr. Lipper began his industrial career with Pfizer Central Research, Groton, CT, where he was primarily involved with liquid and sterile product development for human and veterinary pharmaceutical products. Dr. Lipper has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Michigan and B.S. in Pharmacy from Purdue University.

Dr. Reynolds brings strong leadership experience in toxicology, safety sciences and drug development gained over a 35-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently as Senior Vice President of R&D Read More...

Dr. Reynolds brings strong leadership experience in toxicology, safety sciences and drug development gained over a 35-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently as Senior Vice President of R&D and Worldwide Head of Safety Sciences at Pfizer. Dr. Reynolds is a seasoned leader within the pharmaceutical industry having made substantial contributions to numerous development programs and important drug approvals including Lyrica, Celebrex, Exubera, Afrezza and many others. Dr. Reynolds has an extensive track record of building partnerships with regulatory agencies, and through leadership roles in professional societies, industry executive groups and scientific organizations. Dr. Reynolds is the founder and former Advisory Board Chair of the Drug Safety Executive Council, which now includes a membership of almost 2000 industry professionals and plays an important cross-industry role in collaboratively evaluating, validating and qualifying new technologies for safety testing and decision making. He is board certified in both Veterinary Pathology and Laboratory Animal Medicine and is a Fellow of the International Academy of Toxicologic Pathologists.